The Darkness Inside
by Bookworm850
Summary: Betrayed, lonely and a little bored, Lucy takes a job. But she doesn't come back as the Lucy we all know and love. And she doesn't come back alone. Can Team Natsu get the old Lucy back? And who's this new guy she's brought home with her?
1. Chapter 1: Small Dip in the Darkest Lake

Chapter 1:

Betrayed, lonely and a little bored, Lucy Heartfilia wandered over to the Request board in Magnolia's favourite, rowdy guild, Fairy Tail.

After a small consideration, Lucy pulled off a paper and went over to the perky, white-haired girl behind the bar.

"Hey Mira, I'm taking this one ok?"

**HELP US!**

**Bandits in Waas Forest!**

…

**Reward:**

**100,000J**

"Sure Lucy" Mirajane smiled. "Be careful"

"Will do. Later"

From behind she heard a little giggle that set her nerves on edge. _Great... it had to be her... _

"Why, hello Lisanna," Lucy pasted on her best doll smile and shoved down the hatred and blood-curdling rage that came with every time she set eyes on the Take Over, long-lost princess.

"Do you really think you can take that? On your own?"

"I can do a right bit better than you ever could, princess" she smirked at Lisanna's grimace at the less than flattering nickname, and left before a fight could break out. Despite the fact that even after Natsu kicked her from the team she had gotten a lot stronger than before, Lucy still didn't enjoy fighting. It held no interest for her.

**At Lucy's apartment:**

Lucy quickly packed the essentials before she caught the night train to the small town nearest to Waas Forest. Tossing in a few pairs of underwear and two changes of clothes she folded and carefully placed the clothes into her little black shoulder bag. Just as she was about to leave, a loud crash came from her window. _Right... I should probably lock that while I'm gone..._ glancing towards the window she took in the pink hair and the almost scary glare.

"Natsu... how many times have I told you, not to come in through the window..."

"Why are you so mean to Lisanna?"

"Why not?" Lucy chuckled, at that Natsu narrowed his eyes.

"What happened to you Lucy? You used to be so much fun?"

"I got left behind" her face let go of the small smirk and her eyes filled with pain for a split second before she raked a hand through her hair and she sighed in exasperation.

"Look, Natsu. I'd love to stay and chat, but I have a job to get to, so if you'd please, exit the way you came in so I can lock up?"

"Lock up? But you never lock the window." Natsu frowned.

"Yea, well things change. Now scoot ash-tray." She said giving him a push over the sill.

After locking up Lucy made her way to the train station meeting Gajeel along the way and they waited for the next train out together.

" So where you headed?" Gajeel asked.

"Waas Forest. Got some bandits that keep bothering people, gonna see if I can do something about it. You?"

"Headed to Hargeon. Waas Forest, huh? That's a while away. You going that far for a reason?" For the first time since they'd met up the way to the station, Lucy turned her head to glance at Gajeel.

"Nope. No reason in particular." She calmly replied, turning back to face the tracks just as the train rattled into the station.

"Good luck." She said as final farewell and boarded the train without looking back.

Natsu wandered the streets of Magnolia, hands in pockets and head hung low. _What had happened to Lucy? She couldn't still be mad that we had her trade places with Lisanna, could she?_ Kicking stones he made his way back to his house. _Back home, huh? Well I can't go to Lucy's anymore. She locked the window. I could always use the chimney, but she locked the window for a reason, and she obviously didn't want me there when I came by before. _

"Oi! Flame brain!" A familiarly irritating voice silenced his thoughts.

"What?!" He yelled back as Gray came jogging up behind him.

"I'm looking for Lucy, you know where I can find her?"

"No, what am I? Her keeper?" Natsu asked, a little irritated that everyone always asked him when they were looking for Lucy, and vice versa.

"Alright. Geez, I was just asking." Gray said, turning back.

"Wait," Natsu sighed. "You just missed her, she left on a job."

"A job? Where to? I need to ask her something."

"I dunno, she pushed me out the window before I could ask." _And then she called me 'ash-tray,' but I'm not telling him __that. _

"Well, I'm not surprised, you always barge in. And through the window no less."

"Like you're much better, Santa." He snarked and watched as a Gray's face pulled back in a snarl.

"Anyway!" He ground out. "Thanks for the tip. I'll just have to wait till she gets back." And he turned to leave.

It would be a few more hours before Lucy arrived at the station in the small town near Waas Forest, then she'd make her way to where Cait Shelter used to be, and go from there. The old Cait Shelter would be her camping spot, she guessed that she'd get there about mid-afternoon and do some recon and attack the bandits in their tents at night, taking out their leader first. As a plan formed in her head, Lucy closed her eyes and listened to the wind rushing past the outside of the train, to the rattling of the train cars as they wobbled from the speed, and she let go of all her thoughts. _When I come back to Fairy Tail, I'll be different. I'll be stronger and Team Natsu will beg me to be back on their team and I'll watch with satisfaction as they face rejection. I'll be a different Lucy when I get back... _she whispered in her head.

…

She had no idea.

Chapter 2:

A loud hissing could be heard through the whole of the station as Lucy's train pulled in, and people began to flow out of the doors. Among the heads bobbing up and down, came Lucy. Breaking through the crowd at a break neck pace as she raced to her meeting with the client. _Shit! I'm late! _She was panicking and she knew it, but after this mission, she'd have enough money to leave Fairy Tail.

The mayor was the client, so she booked it to the centre of town and made it there with 2 minutes to spare. While she rested outside the door of the mayor's office, Lucy tidied herself up and moulded her face into a carefully constructed, blank and feelingless expression, raised her hand to the oak wood, and knocked.

"Enter." Came a deep voice from within, and Lucy stepped into the premises. "Ah! You must be the mage from Fairy Tail, I assume?" And at Lucy's assenting nod, the mayor indicated for her to take a seat as he moved around his desk to stand in front of her, lean against the front of his desk and cross his arms over his chest. Lucy had to admit, like that the mayor was looking quite professional and handsome. But there was no time for thoughts such as that, she had a job to do.

"How desperate is the situation?" She inquired.

"Yesterday a caravan of people was making it's way through the forest, and were taken by the bandits."

"So the thieves just became kidnappers. I knew this job would be interesting, it's like Christmas come early" she smirked, as the mayor gave her a re-assessing glance.

"Yes, well. I'm willing to raise the reward if the hostages come back alive."

"I think I can work with that. Although I can not promise there aren't going to be any injuries. It's difficult for me to tell how violent the criminals are with the little information you have provided me with."

"Will it be an issue?"

"No, sir. I'll have them back by dawn tomorrow."

Lucy didn't particularly enjoy camping, but it was the lesser of two evils on missions such as this. When she reached the old Cait Shelter camping grounds Lucy unpacked her black hoodie and black torn jeans and slipped on her ballet shoes, and stowed her belongings in a corner of one of the broken-down houses. Now was the recon part of her job. The sun was setting, so her black attire worked as perfect camouflage in the darkening underbrush. The mayor, though he hadn't told her much, he had told her the location of the bandits/kidnappers base of operations, so she didn't have to scout the whole forest. This would save a lot of time in the rescue of the captives.

As Lucy creeped up on the bandits hide out, she began to assess the kind of magic she judged they would be users of. The mayor had also given her a list of the magic type users that his men had come into contact with when they were caught scouting the land. _Sloppy, _she had thought. There was a sand user, a teleport user, a darkness user and a earth user. Lucy counted out twelve of the men, and found it difficult to believe that only four of them were able to take out ten of the mayors men, but it's difficult to judge their magical strength by looking at them. _Fancy that... _she chuckled at a boy with pink hair that reminded her of an old friend. _Maybe this job won't be so bad after all. _Lucy waited for the sun to set, setting the camp into complete darkness until the bonfire was set. It didn't seem like there were any fire users, not even the guy with pink hair, so she was at least granted the mercy of not being burnt to death if she lost. _Which I won't. _She reminded herself. She'd come back from this a stronger and a newer Lucy.

She watched as the men gathered around the camp fire, and watched as their leader retired to his tent, the large one in the middle of a row of tents. If the tent hadn't been so damn big, Lucy wouldn't have been able to tell which was which, _Thank god for their master being an egotistical douche bag. _Crawling through the underbrush around to the back side of the large, Lucy lifted the edge of the tent and silently slipped in. Hiding behind the nearest object, Lucy listened as the leader and, who she guessed was, his second in command talked over their next raid. _Too bad you won't be going through with any of those plans, _she thought. Soon the leader dismissed his second in command and turned to the box that Lucy had been hiding behind.

"You can come out now." Lucy slowly stood. "So you're here to kill me? You're a bit too pretty to be an assassin." He commented.

"That's what makes me the best of my kind." She giggled, putting on her best doll smile.

"You realise that I won't go down without a fight."

"Oh, I'm counting on it. See, I've been kind of bored these last few days, and I really need someone to give me a good rush. Think you can help?" She asked, showing him her large, innocent eyes.

"I think I might be able to oblige," he said, charging out of his seat. When he came within reach Lucy's hand shot out from behind her back and time stopped for a second. Blood came spurting from the leaders throat as he grasped at it in a vain attempt to staunch the bleeding. In Lucy's hand was a small throwing knife, without a single blood stain on it. The blade had passed so quickly through his skin and veins that there wasn't even enough time for him to shed any blood on it. Sighing, Lucy walked up to the man collapsed on the floor and rolled him onto his back with her shoe.

"What a shame. You could have at least lasted a little longer, you gave me no entertainment. Looks like I'll have to play with your friends now. They looked like they knew how to have a little fun," she winked as the mans eyes widened, he took a hand away from his throat to reach out towards her, and for a moment, he thought he eyes softened, but then it was gone, and Lucy let out a giggle at the thought of playing a new game as she stepped out of the tent.

Walking over to the bonfire, she sat down next to the closest man. Everything continued on as normal till one of the men noticed the extra in the group. Lucy stared into the fire as slowly, all the men became aware of her presence.

"Isn't fire beautiful?" She sighed, "Such beauty in the destruction it causes." The men stood and readied themselves for battle.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but we're gonna hafta take ya captive now." One of them said.

"Thank you for the warning shirt," she smiled serenely, "But I'm sorry, I can't oblige to your request. See, I have a job to do. Now your leader is dead, and I'm really hoping you'll put up a better fight than he did." Rising to her feet, she held her hands towards the men, turned them palms up and made a "come-at-me" gesture with her fingers. At that obvious challenge and the insult she said about their leader the men charged, with a mighty battle roar. A grin seemed to split Lucy's face in half as she drew her knives, and a maniacal laugh escaped her mouth as she dodged and weaved through the crowd of attacking apes. _There's no strategy to them, they just attack and expect me to sit down and take it. _Madness took her as she stabbed the last of the men and watched him fall to the ground. From the corner of her eye she saw the second in command standing in shock between two of the tents to Lucy's left.

"Oops" she giggled."Looks like I've been caught."

"H-How could you do this? These men have done nothing wrong. They were just doing the orders of the master."

"Nothing wrong? Would you say that someone that assisted in mass murder under the orders of his master had done nothing wrong?" She asked, tilting her head to the side. "The jury has voted and the punishment has been implemented. If you're unsatisfied, then you may take your revenge." Lifting her arms, Lucy stood straight up, pushing out her chest and extending her arms to either side of her. She looked a bit like Jesus on the cross.

Taking in her appearance in the dying light, the last man standing asked, "What is your name?"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk" she tutted, and lifted a single finger to her lips "some secrets are better left hidden. Don't you think? Cronus?" His eyes widened and Lucy cackled.

"Cocky name for someone without the guts enough to attack a girl! There must be a reason it is you who is second in command and not any of them." She taunted, sweeping her hand over the horrifying image of her massacre.

"There is," he smiled, summoning light around him. "I'm a light dragon-slayer." Lucy gasped, her face a mask of horror. But it soon cracked into a grin as she laughed at how the look of triumph on his face sank to a look of confusion. "Sorry honey, but I used to have a dragon-slayer for a friend, and you just made me want to kill you even more." Shifting into a ready stance, Lucy and Cronus faced each other off.

Cronus was getting impatient, but he knew better than to act rashly. He could feel the insanity pour off this girl. In this light she was gorgeous, but what he saw in her eyes, he never wanted to see ever again. Tension built in his leg muscles as he prepared to attack, but she seemed to be one step ahead, reading his thoughts like an open book. But that was impossible, right? Right? Even a telepath couldn't read the thoughts that his brain was unconsciously sending to his legs. The girl launched herself at him, with such speed and such grace that he stopped to watch it, but his head snapped back into the present, and he dodged before her knives could connect with his flesh. The ordinary couldn't follow their fight, they were mere blurs to any onlooker. But Cronus knew that as far as physical strength was concerned, then he outmatched her, but her kind of speed, and the way her movements didn't seem to have any logical path and that her movements were almost too fast for his eyes to catch, she was on a completely different level to him. He knew he would lose, but it was too late to back out now. He'd just have to make sure that she didn't win. No matter what. His feet touched the ground for a split second, but it was a split second too long, the girls foot slide next to his and took it out from underneath. He lost his balance, closed his eyes and braced himself for when he hit the ground. It didn't come. As he opened his eyes he saw her hand grasping the front of his shirt. But her eyes were different. The madness was gone, fear and guilt had replaced it, then they were gone, and the madness came back as her face twisted into a cruel smile as she pulled him up by his shirt front and tossed him into a nearby tree. Cronus felt his breath rush out of him as he heard the sickening crack of a body hitting a tree trunk. Opening his eyes, he saw he doing a small little dance and laughing with her head thrown back to let the moonlight wash over her face. Her head snapped to face him and a grin spread across her face, stretching from ear to ear. He watched as she dropped to the ground and began crawling towards him on all fours, her movements as smooth and creepy as a snake, till she sat in his lap, one leg either side of his torso and her knife pressing up against the soft part of his throat. He didn't feel it pierce the skin, only the single drop of blood that slowly ran down his neck to his collar-bone. She leant down to his neck and began licking it off of his skin. Every time her tongue touch his skin he felt shivers rack his body.

Suddenly her head shot up and stared at him with wide eyes. She quickly back pedalled off his lap and covered her mouth with her hand as she took in her surroundings. Her face twisted into a cruel grimace as she stood and said something.

"No! I'm not done with him yet!"

"Yes you are!" _Was she talking to herself?_ _No... she couldn't possibly be..._ Her hands reached up to either side of her head and squeezed. "You've done enough! Leave!" her voice changed too. She didn't sound like she had before, her voice was lighter, less dark, and less deep.

"No! He must die!" She screeched, the deep voice was back. Cronus watched as the girl seemed to have a battle, one that was going on inside her head. "You... have... done... enough!" She said through gritted teeth, looking around for... something.

_Come on! There has to be something! Anything! _Lucy thought, frantically looking around. _A tree! A tree would work, right? If I run at it fast enough! _Then she did something Cronus had not expected. She ran at a tree at top speed. When she collided there was a loud sound like a thunder clap and she collapsed at the foot of the tree, unconscious. Gripping his bruised and injured sides Cronus got up and searched for a weapon as he approached the girl. Finding a sizable rick nearby he stepped the rest of the way towards her. She didn't look like the girl who had killed about thirty people on her own without using any magic. _I should kill her_. He thought, raising the rock a little higher. But when he looked at her face, he just couldn't bring himself to do it.


	2. Chapter 2: Gasping for Breath

Chapter 3:

_In the nightmare, Lucy couldn't do anything to stop the horrific scene that was playing out before her eyes. Natsu, Gray and Erza were all collapsed and bleeding. The ground was stained with blood and no matter how much she wanted to go and help them, her body wouldn't respond to her commands. He had her by the hair, making her watch as his minions beat her friends to a blood pulp. A dark chuckle came from right behind her left ear, "Do like my weavile?" he asked "I made it specially for you. Someone so beautiful without a single flaw? Well, now that's changed. I can't wait till it reaches your brain and latches on. Oh, you'll still be Lucy, for sure." Another chuckle. Lucy's scalp hurt as he yanked on her hair. "Oh! But I'm ruining the surprise!" He said dropping her and placing a hand over his mouth. Lucy watched as his men gathered around him and they turned to leave. "Till we meet again, my dearest tainted angel." _

Lucy awoke with a gasp, as if air had just returned to her lungs, and her eyes snapped open. Sitting up, she wiped the sweat from her forehead. That nightmare hadn't left her since the event itself. Watching her friends get thrashed was more scarring for her than it had been for them. They only had to fight, she had had to sit there, useless as a lawn gnome and watch as her friends were brought to the brink of death. Lucy's hand stilled on her face as she felt someone watching her. Looking around, she realised she was still in the bandits camp. But it wasn't the same as it had been. Surrounding where the bonfire had been there was freshly turned over dirt, and at the head of every mound of dirt there lay a rock with a name carved into it. In the centre of the ring of graves, where the bonfire used to be was another mound, this one was completely covered with rocks to form a kind of coffin of stone. At the head of this coffin there was a makeshift wooden cross, with a name carved into it. _I did this? I killed these people?... _then a thought occurred to her. _Why aren't I dead?_ Lucy made her way over to the centre of the group and summoned up her magic, sending golden, glittering sparks over all of the graves, and recited the line that had ingrained itself into her mind.

Cronus watched in rapt attention as the girl stood at the centre of the ring of graves and said something he never would have expected.

"There are 3 conditions for anyone who leaves Fairy Tail. Listen Well!

ONE: You must never reveal sensitive information about Fairy tail to others for as long as you live!

TWO: You must not have unauthorised contact with past clients or profit personally from them!

THREE: Even if we walk different paths, one must always live on as strong as you are able! You must never treat your own life as something insignificant! And you must never forget the friends you love for as long as you live!

Even if we're separated, even if you can't see me, I will always be watching over you." Cronus watched in surprise as she raised her right hand and pointed to the sky with her index finger and thumb. Falling to her knees she faced the masters stone coffin and cried. "Forgive me..." it was barely a whisper, and he had to strain to hear it, but Cronus watched as her falling tears made dark splotches on the light stone.

Standing, Lucy walked away from the grave site and away from the staring man. She would leave this behind her, just like every other hardship in her life. Even when she heard footsteps behind her, she didn't change her pace, stepping over root and stone she slowly but surely making her way towards where the captives were being kept at the front of the camping site.

_So that's what she was after... _Cronus thought as he followed her. He didn't know why he was following her, but his feet seemed to have a brain of their own and his curiosity about her carried him away.

Walking into the tent after her, Cronus watches as she untied the captives, letting them go one by one. Once untied they stepped outside the tent and for the first time in two days they filled their eyes with the beautiful sight of the blue sky dotted with white clouds. Cronus watched as she girl introduced herself as "Lucy Heartfilia" and debriefed them on why they had been captured and what they were to do now that they were free. _Lucy... Heartfilia, huh? I know that name from somewhere..._ It was interesting to watch her work. Her face was completely impassive, but that just made it more interesting to look at her, he wanted to know what her gorgeous face would look like if she smiled. Without the madness.

Once she dismissed the captives, she began to back track the path she had used to get from Cait Shelter to the camp site. And he was still following her. Why was he following her? Getting a bit irritated she took larger steps, but he kept up with her easily. Rounding on him Lucy stared him down.

"Why are you following me?!" to which he replied with a "I dunno" shrug. Tossing her arms in the air, she spun back around and resumed her march. _Why is this guy following me? Ugh! He's really annoying me! Maybe I should've let her kill me... NO! Lucy what the hell are you thinking that for?_ She thought, shaking her head at her stupidity. She would never _let_ her kill. If there was anything that Lucy could do to the darkness that hid inside her, she'd make sure that it stayed down as long as possible.

Cronus could tell there was an internal debate going on inside her, he just didn't know which side was winning. He guessed that because he wasn't dead yet, the good side was winning. Maybe she wasn't all bad after all... But he still couldn't trust her, he'd observe for now, and not get too close. _Yea, that's it! If I can learn something from her then maybe this kind of situation won' t happen again. Good plan! _He congratulated himself, he just wasn't really sure if she'd let him, she was as unpredictable as an animal with rabies. Wait... where'd she go? He asked, frantically glancing around. _Dammit! You idiot! Why did you get so lost in thought?! Hang on.. where was he? _He as he looked around he noticed that there were a bunch of broken-down houses all clustered together. _There she is! _Lucy was walking out of one of the houses, wearing a change of clothes and with a black bag hanging over her shoulder. Instead of the blades she had a whip strapped to her belt which held up a short blue skirt which hung low on her hips. As a shirt she was wearing a blue tank top and she had a white jacket tied through the strap of her bag. His mouth began to water as he took in ever luscious curve of her body and the way her legs looked out of those jeans. When she had been out cold he'd noticed that her hoodie was high in the chest, but he hadn't really notice just how big they were._Oh man... this is not good... _He thought as he noticed she was looking at him, expecting him to follow. Which he did. Watching her hips sway from side to side. This was not good at all.

All the way back to the town she had felt his eyes roam all over her, especially her hips. She had to admit, she loved that he couldn't take his eyes off of her. But once they came into the town it would be weird if they saw him staring at her like a perv.

"If you don't stop drooling over my ass, someone's gonna think you're a perv." _Shit! She noticed! _He thought panicking.

"I wasn't - "

"Sure... you keep saying that, whatever makes you feel better." She said sarcastically.

Then he noticed where they were. Central? Why are they going to the mayors office?

"The mayor was the client." She replied. _Holy crap! Can she read my thoughts?_

"No, I can't read your thoughts, it's just easy to read your expressions. Stay outside the room while I go and collect my reward from the mayor." He didn't. As if he would follow an order from her. Despite the fact that she could kill him and he didn't doubt that she was as good with that whip as she was with her knives, that didn't change the fact that he was a dragon slayer and he had his pride. _Damn. Just thinking about what she could do with that whip is making me horny _**(A/N: I felt like making him a little kinky. Let me know what you think ;) ). **

Entering the room, Lucy noticed that he hadn't followed her order. She'd have to beat that defiant trait out of him. She smirked. And she'd enjoy it too.

"As promised," she said, addressing the mayor. "All captives home, safe and sound."

"Well done, Ms. Heartfilia."

"How do you like to handle your payments? Cash or check?"

"Check." He said handing her a piece of paper with a sizable amount of money on it. _Hmmm.. I guess this will have to do. _She thought as she remembered how she'd had to knock herself out when the darkness had come to swallow her.

_Jesus! That's how much he paid her to slaughter his team? I should've joined a guild long ago. Maybe I'll follow her to where ever her guild is. See if it's worth it. _Lucy left the room and Cronus hurried to follow. He notice when she reached for her whip, he also didn't notice when the tip slapped the floor, or when she raised it and sent the end flying in her direction. The whip loudly connected with his side and he stumbled backwards, glancing up into her eyes to watch the madness there again.

"Let's get something straight, pretty boy" She said leaning over and twisting her head to the side. "If you're going to follow me around like a lost puppy then you better learn how to take orders. Got it?" No response. Lucy raised her whip again and was stopped by the rapid nodding of Cronus' head. "Good." she said cheerfully, and the madness was gone. The whip was re-wound and attached to her belt. "Now, I have a train to catch and you have a ticket to buy. Unless you want to walk to Magnolia." She teased with a raised brow.


	3. Chapter 3: Holding It

Chapter 4

Cronus was never very good with trains... or transportation. In any way shape or form. To say he got motion sickness would be an extreme understatement. Now he lay on the train floor, clutching his stomach as it roiled and squelched with the shaking and rumbling of the train. Lucy looked down at him from her seat by the window, with a small smile on her lips. The madness found it funny, but there was a sadness to her eyes as she remembered what made this situation so familiar.

"You right there, Cronus?" The madness taunted, to which Cronus replied with a groan. It found his pain and discomfort funny. Somehow he wasn't surprised.

Hours later, they arrived at the Magnolia Train Station. Struggling to stand up Cronus was jerked forward as Lucy grabbed the back of his shirt and dragged him, rather violently from the train, all the while muttering something about "Dragon Slayers being so fucking pathetic..."

Once off she was greeted by two large men who decided to escort her back to the guild.

"Hey Bunny, heard you kicked ass." Said the one with dark, long hair that hung down mid- back

"Yea... it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. It was supposed to take 3 days at least... it took be two to get there and back." Lucy sighed.

"Cheer up, Blondie." The other blonde grinned, _He's knows he's blonde too right? _Cronus sweat dropped. "Me and Gajeel are plannin' on goin' on a mission together later. Wanna tag along?"

"Sorry Laxus. I don't tag." By this time Cronus was standing at the back of the group, listening intent on their conversation. _Laxus... Gajeel... where do I know those names...?...!... NO FUCKING WAY! _With wide eyes he gaped at the two of them.

"Hey Luce..." I muttered, coming up behind her and putting a hand on her shoulder, only to remove it when she stiffened and reached for her whip. "You never told me you knew _the _Laxus Dreyer and _the _Gajeel Redfox!"

"How many Laxus' and Gajeel's to do know..?" She eyed him, slightly amused. Cronus was turning into a fan girl, and the madness was finding it hilarious. To be honest, so was Lucy.

But it didn't go down well with the two guys who had noticed him touch her, they growled their distaste at his mere existence and jogged to catch up with the still walking Lucy.

"So what if we make a deal?" Laxus suggested, much unlike himself. Lucy had been acting weird lately, and she smelled different, it interested Laxus in a way that kind of made her hotter. Eyeing Laxus from the corner of her eye, Lucy said;

"I'm listening."

"Lets make a bet, if you come on the mission with us, and you knock out more people than I do, I'll give you half my share." A grin spread on Lucy's face as she stopped walking and turned to Laxus.

"Are you sure about that, Blondie?"

"Course, I don't make a bet I don't mean." He said, regretting it a bit.

"Then you have yourself a deal." She said, and they shook on it. _He's going down so hard he won't even know what hit 'im. _"So what's the mission?" She asked, turning back to walk to the guild.

"Dunno yet. Figure we'd ask the weakest link before she got hurt." Gajeel piped in.

"Trust me, metal-head. You've got nothing to worry about on this end." She assured as the madness began to writhe behind her eyes.

Storming through the doors to Fairy Tail brought a great satisfaction to Lucy. She didn't care that no one turned to look or greet her. She was here for a milkshake and another job and that was it. But when she went to the bar, the guys didn't leave her. They sat on either side and ordered their own drinks. _Great... _she thought while rolling her eyes, _now I've got Laxus and Gajeel instead of Natsu and Gray. Not much of a switch. _

"So what's with the guy you brought home?" Gajeel asked after a moment of silence.

"Found him." Lucy shrugged.

"Oh yeah? And what were you doing when you found him?"

"I was killing his team..."

"Lucy, it was meant to be a track and capture, not a track and slaughter." Laxus sighed.

"Awww! But Laxus-nii-san! It was so much fun!" She giggled. Only Cronus didn't react.

She was bored. Not just a little bored, really really bored. She had been leaning against a tree for the past thirty minutes waiting for the guys to get back from scouting the dark guild they were supposed to obliterate.

And she was bored.

"Fuck it..." she muttered, pushing herself off of the tree to stand and walking towards the large wooden metal doors of the dark guilds head quarters. She raised a fist and pounded it against the door. Usually she would come up with a plan, draw them all out into the open so she could attack. But the boredom had clouded her mind, so now her only plan was get in there and get the job done. The doors swung open and she walked in as if it were the most natural thing in the world, closing the door slowly behind her.

"Oi, Gajeel. Where'd Blondie go?" Laxus asked, taking hold of Gajeel's shoulder and angling him to the tree she was supposed to wait by.

"She wouldn't..." They gasped, turning on their heels and running to the large building they had been scouting. It was louder. There was screaming. Raising their hands to the door the slowly pushed it open. They couldn't see anything, it was so dark that Laxus lit up like a light bulb to get a clear view into the room. Scanning the room, the took in the gruesome sight, body after body lay mangled and broken, piles were placed all over the room and on the back wall stood a bar, with a blonde mage covered in blood and guts drinking a vanilla milkshake like it was an everyday occurrence.

"Hey Laxus?"

"uh?" He grunted, still shocked at the sight.

"You owe me half your share." She grinned from ear to ear, her pupils shrinking to tiny pinpoints from the light.


	4. Chapter 4: Sinking into Darkest Depths

Chapter 5

Silence rang throughout the halls of the dark guild as the two men stared at Lucy as she slowly walked through her piles of bodies. Just as she walked through a large puddle of blood a hand shot out and grasped her ankle from a pile to her left. The smile never left her face, neither did their eyes. Shivers racked their bodies, but they couldn't stop looking. She moved with a whole new grace. Before, she had moved as a well trained lady, now she moved with ease and slithering movements that spoke volumes as to the kind of person who had taken over her body. Twisting her body violently to the right she ripped the blood caked man out from the stack and watched him heave in breaths. When his chest steadied she leaned down and watched as horror and fear wrote itself across his face, etching itself into every muscle, and she clamped her hand over his mouth and nose, effectively depriving him of any and all oxygen. Gajeel and Laxus didn't snap back into focus until his muffled cries of pain, fear and desperation broke through their reverie.

"Lucy! That's enough!" Laxus said, running forward and pulling her back by the shoulders. But she wouldn't budge. The blood covered mage continued to struggle, clawing at her face and arms.

"Lucy!" Gajeel yelled, helping Laxus with pulling her back, but she struggled, keeping her hand clamped down on his face, watching as his pupils dilated and the lack of oxygen withered his lungs as a single tear rolled down his cheek. Suddenly the smile was gone, and sadness imprinted itself on her face and in her eyes as she withdrew her hand and placed it on her mouth.

"Oh god..." she whispered in horror, but he couldn't hear her words, couldn't see the tears roll down her own cheeks as she saw what she had done. _Not again... _Pain crashed through her head as if someone had turned screamo metal music on the loudest the speakers could go inside her head. A high pitched screech escaped her mouth as she grasped her head to stop it from exploding. Gajeel and Laxus watched from the floor, not paying any heed to the blood they were soaking their clothes in. As Lucy stumbled close they scrambled to their feet to get away from her as she drew in ragged breaths only to let out another blood curdling scream.

Spinning to the two, tears pouring freely down her face she screamed desperately "HIT ME!"

"W-what?!" They stuttered.

"FUCKING HIT ME!" Her hands slowly reached behind her back, and tightened around the knives that now lived in sheaths at the base of her spine. She straightened up and stood with her head tilted to the side and the smile reappeared on her face, once again sending shivers down Gajeel and Laxus' backs.

"L-Lucy?" They asked hesitantly taking a step forward.

"Sorry!" She cackled, throwing her arms out wide with the knives firmly grasped in her hands, "Lucy has officially left the building!" A sick grin extended her already creepy smile as her voice dropped to deadly levels, "There's only madness here..."

Leaning forwards Lucy launched herself at the two dragon slayers, not a lick of fear in her eyes as they readied themselves for the attack.

"Lucy! Think about what you're doing!" Laxus yelled, dodging her flying knives.

"I don't want to hurt you!" Gajeel said, jumping out of the way of her war path. Swiftly and smoothly Lucy changed course and attacked Gajeel head on. His mind went into overdrive as he tried to come up with a plan to knock her out but not to overly hurt her.

"You think you can!" She laughed at their audacity.

"Fine" they growled, "let's kick it into gear."

"Iron Dragons Roar!"

"Lightning Dragons Roar!" It was like a unison raid made in hell. The metal conducted the lightning, making it supercharged as the special vortex of their breaths combined and made a lethal match deadset on killing her.

Jumping out of the way in just in time Lucy jumped up and sat at the top of a pile of bodies and watched as the entire front of the guild building was blown off in sparkly shards of electricity, metal, wood and stone.

"Well, shit..." she muttered and face the two mages who, thinking they had hit her, high fived each other. "You were actually trying to hurt me!" She yelled, enraged to the point where madness didn't even cover the craziness that filled her body and soul. "You were ACTUALLY trying to hurt ME!" She screamed, and jumped off her messed up version of a seat. Without time to react the men balled their hands into fists and threw a punch into thin air with their eyes closed so they wouldn't have to watch her connect with them. They never landed though. Disappearing into the shadows, she stalked around them as the stood back to back, glancing around them as her laughter echoed, bouncing off the walls. Then from nowhere she appeared in front of Laxus and slashed her blade across his cheek before retreating back into the shadows. Laxus recoiled and a hand went up to his cheek, coming away with blood on the palm.

"Could you at least have gone for the chest?!" His whined, wiping the blood off on his already stained pants while listening to her laugh.

"I think it's an improvement! Always thought you looked a bit lopsided with only one scar! But don't worry, by the time I'm done, no one will be able to recognise you... I can't wait to play my new game."


	5. Chapter 5: A Hand to Drag Her Out

Chapter 6:

A Hand to Drag Her Out

He was scared of her. _Why the fuck am I scared of her? I'm Laxus Dreyer! Not even flamethrower can beat me! So why am I scared of a little girl? _Looking down, he noticed something shocking _Shit... my hands are shaking... _

"Laxus.." the desperate whisper came from beside him as they both scanned the corners and dark filled areas for any sign of their hunter. _Hunter? That's right... she's the hunter and today we're the prey..._

"What?" Laxus replied hoarsely.

"She's not using her magic! Why isn't she using her magic?" Gajeel asked, eyes still desperately flicking from one direction to the next, looking for any sign of another attack.

"Why, you ask?" She giggled like a child. "Simple Gajeel-kun. I want to to feel your bones crunch beneath my own hands and I want to coat my hands with your blood." The only sound was her laughter, and not even their dragon-slayer hearing could pinpoint where the source was.

She shot between their legs, knives slashing against the backs of their knees causing them to fall to the floor, their legs no longer able to support them for very long. She came again, kicking them apart and in an instant she was face to face with Laxus. He stared at the ground out of fear of meeting the eyes that now held no trace of Lucy. Her index finger pressed against the bottom of his chin, forcing him to look into her eyes and watch the sadistic smile spread across her face as she raised her other knife to his cheek and pressed it into his skin, causing him to flinch.

"Mmmm..." She groaned as she leaned forward, placing the tip of her tongue to where a small droplet of blood had made it's way down his face to his chin. Her tongue followed the trail up to the cut and she licked across it. "I can taste the power in your blood." she sighed into his ear. "It tastes amazing."

Tapping her index finger against her chin she contemplated something, then leant forward so her breath against his ear made him flinch away from her, "I wonder if Makarov will taste that good." She chuckled. Lightning crackled at his fingertips as the thought of her hurting Makarov penetrated his thoughts.

"Uh uh uuuh..." she tutted, shaking her finger in front of his face. "We wouldn't want Lucy to be hurt, now _would _we!" Raising her fist and punching Laxus so hard that he was knocked unconscious.

"Laxus!" Gajeel yelled. "Come on, man! Get up!"

"Oh... he won't be getting up for a while now. But don't worry! I haven't finished my game yet, so he'll at least be alive for a few more hours."

With a mighty battle cry Gajeel pushed himself up off of the ground, much to the protest of his legs, and launched himself at Lucy. "Talons of the Iron Dragon!" He swung his claws, aiming to clip her on the temple. Lucy dodged, amusement flickered across her face as she watched the spectacle.

"Why do you care what I do to Laxus?"

"We are Fairy Tail! We fight for each others safety!" He yelled, rage making his voice all the more powerful.

"You didn't seem to care about other people's safety before. Hell, you probably would've killed them yourself if they got in your way."

"It's different now!" He said, still swinging. Lucy had yet to throw a punch.

"Oh? How's that?"

"I-" He faltered, she took her opportunity, and clipped him across the chin, snapping him back into battle mode. "I'm part of Fairy Tail now. They're my family! Family sticks together!They look out for each other!"

"They, huh?" Raising her right hand, she looked at the pink mark on it. "Well, this symbol says I'm Fairy Tail too." She calmly replied. Finally one of Gajeel's blows was able to connect, and Lucy went stumbling backwards, with a small smile on her lips.

"Now, now Gajeel-kun. I thought we were family."

"You're sick, Lucy. Let me take you home so we can you back to the Lucy we love."

"Love?" She stopped moving instantly, causing Gajeel to halt his attacks. "Love, you say? No one loves me! No one will ever LOVE ME! EVER! Don't you get it? Lucy Heartfilia doesn't get loved! She gets left behind!" Rage and pain etched into her features as she sent a flurry of punches at Gajeel's face.

"You're wrong! You are loved! I promise, Lucy! We won't leave you behind! Please, just come back to Fairy Tail with me. Come home! I won't leave you. I promise."

Tears ran down her face.

"no! No! NO! You don't get to make promises." Her voice bubbled with tears and she closed her eyes to stop the tears. Her heart felt broken, Gajeel had reached in a rubbed salt into the wound. Nothing could make it better. Taking advantage of Lucy's closed eyes, Gajeel clocked her over the head and watched her eyes snap open in surprise and then closed again as she fell to the ground. Gajeel caught her halfway, cradling her in his arms. Walking towards the guild doors, he grasped Laxus by the back of his fur coat and dragged him outside.

_How could this have happened to some so nice, and pure?_ He thought, looking down at Lucy's unconscious face. Something caught his eye just below the hair line at the back of her neck. It looked like some sort of snake was moving around just beneath her skin.

"The fuck...?" His face twisted in confusion as he watched the lump disappear as the 'snake' slithered deeper inside her body.

Back at Fairy Tail, Natsu, Gray, Erza, Wendy and Lisanna sat at a table near the front of the guild. They were worried. Well, most of them were. Lisanna sat there playing with Natsu's hands as he sat there thinking about anything but Lisanna.

"She'll be fine." Erza assured, more to herself than to anyone else. "She's strong, and smart, and she can take care of herself."

"Right," Gray confirmed, "Besides, she went out with Gajeel and Laxus, so if anything does go wrong, they'll take care of her."

"But they went on an S class mission... that was one of the strongest dark guilds out there." Natsu thought out loud, completely obliterating whatever Erza and Gray had used to not be worried about their team mate. Well, their old team mate. But they hadn't seen Lucy in so long, others at the guild had said she came in, had a drink with Gajeel and Laxus then left with them on another mission. Usually that would've been fine, but something didn't feel right.

Their concerns were well placed because not two minutes later, a badly wounded Gajeel stumbled through the guild doors, carrying an unconscious Lucy, and dragging a badly beaten and unconscious Laxus. Panting, Gajeel did a last ditch effort to push all three of them into the building, throwing Laxus just that little bit more forward before turning around and collapsing so he was stomach up with Lucy sprawled on top of him. Strangely, to the guilds fascination, she was the least battered out of the three of them. The reason they would discover later.

Erza jumped up from her seat and sprinted to the collapsed three, dropping to her knees next to the barely conscious Gajeel. "What happened?" She demanded.

Gajeel shook his head as an indication that he still wasn't really sure, before exhaustion dragged him into a pit of darkness inside his head.

Hours later, Laxus and Gajeel were the first to come to. An unconscious Lucy lay in the bed between them in the infirmary. The first thing they did when they saw her face was back pedal as fast as possible, not caring that they dropped right out of their beds, or even that they tipped them over. Using his bed as a shield, Laxus picked up a broom that lay in the corner of the room and used the shaft to poke Lucy on the shoulder, causing her to groan and turn over. Lucy's movement made the boys cower behind their bed/shields.

Hearing the slam of the beds hitting the floor team Natsu raced upstairs, thinking something had happened, or they had gotten attacked in their sleep. Storming through the door to the infirmary, Natsu scanned the room at caught sight of the two men cowering behind their flipped over beds.

"You're awake." Erza said, calmly looking at them.

"Luckily..." Laxus muttered, and stood

"She was gonna kill us." Gajeel stated, also getting to his feet.

"She?" Gray asked, coming in behind Erza with Wendy in tow. Lisanna stood out in the hall trying to see over everyone's shoulders to no avail. Gajeel and Laxus hesitantly looked at the still sleeping blonde mage with clear fear in their eyes.

"Her." They said in unison, pointing.

"Lucy?" Natsu said, not believing that two of the most powerful mages in Fairy Tail were afraid of Lucy, who couldn't even hold a candle to Levy's power, let alone Gajeel and Laxus.

Taking a few steps back till they were safely on the other side of the room to Lucy's bed they began to tell their tale. Gajeel omitting the bit where he promised not to leave her.

When the two finished talking Erza was posing thoughtfully, Natsu stared at them like they'd grown mushrooms on their heads, Gray and Wendy were staring at Lucy and Lisanna was still denied access to the room.

"Lucy went insane." Erza stated, Laxus and Gajeel nodded. "She knocked out Laxus after thoroughly whooping his ass." met with another nod. "And then Gajeel beat her when she went on a huge ranting rampage and tried to kill him too." only Gajeel nodded. "I find that very difficult to believe." She said with a shrug.

"I don't care!" Laxus raged, quietly, cautious not to wake the source of his fear. "It happened and if we don't tie her up before she wakes up then she's going to kill us all!"

A groan came from the bed. Gajeel and Laxus comically slowly turned to face her as she opened her eyes. At the sight of them Lucy was first shocked, but then a smile spread across her face.

"Laxus-nii, Gajeel-kun. I'm so glad you're ok!" She said throwing her arms round both their shoulders and pulling them in for a hug, whispering something into their ears that made their faces go slack before she drew back with concern pasted masterfully on her face.

"I was so scared that they had gotten you! I got caught and didn't know what I was going to do! I thought they'd caught you too!" Looking at Erza, Lucy's face went cold.

"Oh... Erza.. you're here." Looking around at the group emotionlessly. "And LOOK! It's Team Natsu! Come to save the day! Oh wait. You're a bit late. These two boys almost got themselves killed because of your ragtag team of amateurs."

"Because of us? What the hell did we do? We weren't even there!" Natsu exclaimed, not noticing the look of irritation melt away to a _way_ too sweet smile as she once again reached for her knives.

"You made me hate you"

"Oh shit!" Gajeel and Laxus lunged at Lucy, Gajeel pinning her head against his chest as Laxus tried to wrestle the knives out of her hands. "Do you believe us now?!" They demanded as the whole of Team Natsu recoiled from the thrashing Lucy.

"What happened to her?" Gray gasped. "She looks like some kind of animal!"

Natsu stood there silently, he had missed her so much and when she finally comes back she wasn't Lucy anymore. Not just that but she hates him. Does that make it his fault that she was like this? He was shaken from his thoughts by her high pitched screaming that would make a dragon's ears bleed. Erza was tying her to a chair, while Gajeel and Laxus held her down.

"What are you doing!" Natsu yelled.

"What needs to be done." Erza's voice was strained as she had to dodge Lucy's thrashing legs, while barking orders at Laxus and Gajeel, the rest of Team Natsu stood in shock.

Once safely tied to the chair, everyone stood in a semi-circle around her. Cronus walked into the room after Erza had passed orders out to Lisanna to summon him.

"You called, Titania?" He asked.

"Cronus!" Lucy said, "Long time no see! Wanna help a girl out?"

"Sorry Luce. You need this." He shrugged. Erza looked at him quizzically.

"So you have seen this side of her before."

"Yes, ma'am. Remember when Lucy went -" He stopped explaining when he took in their blank stares, _so that's what she meant when no one cared about her, these guys completely cut all ties. _"Well, Lucy went on this mission to detain a bunch of bandits in Waas Forest. Those bandits happened to be my team. Needless to say, it didn't go as predicted, instead of detaining them, she killed them. All 30 of them, without even using her magic. And when she went up against me, I'm less ashamed to say now, that she completely levelled me."

"But she didn't kill you." Erza said.

"Clearly."

"Why?"

"She knocked herself out." Blunt and to the point.

"She did what?"

"She knocked herself out. Why? I have no idea. She just did. For a second it seemed like she was the madness anymore, she seemed sad and scared. Then she knocked herself out."

"Yea that makes sense." Laxus mused. "She told us to hit her. 'Course neither of us did, and that was probably the biggest mistake I ever made."

"So if she goes back to normal whenever she's knocked unconscious, why does it still have a hold on her?"

"Well for that I'd need to know what 'it' is." Said a deep voice coming from the doorway. Everyone parted to clear the way for the little man the voice belonged to.

"Master." Erza said, relieved that she finally had someone to lean on.

"Lucy, my child, what has happened to make you like this?"

"I'm free, master." Tossing her head to scream to the heavens "I'M FREE!"

"Free of what?"

"Of what? Everything. Of caring, of hurting, of being scared. I'm free and I don't ever want to go back to the cage that 'Just Lucy' lived in. I don't need you, or friends, or this guild for that matter."

"My dear child," Master Makarov sighed, "If anything, we need you." Lucy's face dropped and she stared at him.

"Don't lie, Master. Lying is bad."


	6. Chapter 6: Gasping for Air

Chapter 7:

Gasping For Air

Glorious tension mounted in the room as Lucy said those unbelievably pain-filled words.

"Don't lie, Master. Lying is bad."

"Why would you say that, my child?"

"'No one needs Lucy-chan. Nothing but a pointless waste of space. An empty sack of skin using up precious oxygen'." She quoted in a voice that didn't seem her own.

"Who told you this?"

"Why, daddy-dearest, of course." She giggled. "He taught Lucy-chan lots of things about how she is only useful as a pawn and that she doesn't deserve to live otherwise." Her voice, which had reverted to something childish, came back to it's previous depth. "No one needs Lucy. That's why Lucy has me. I make the hurt go away." _No..._ Lucy's mind was conscious though, and she could hear what her body was saying. "No?" it asked out loud.

_No. When I wake up, I hurt. My hands are covered with blood and I'm scared. _

"But I make the bad men go away." It replied out loud again.Earning strange looks from their audience.

"Lucy? What are you talking about. I don't understand." Master's brows furrowed in confusion.

Lucy's words came out on a hiss. "Mustn't presume you are important in this equation. It means nothing to us." _Wrong! Master means everything! _

"No, no Lucy. It means nothing to us. I am all you need."

As Lucy's internal argument continued, everyone stepped outside, following Makarov out into the hall to where Lisanna was tapping her foot impatiently.

"Master. What do we do now?" Erza inquired, a little more than shaken at Lucy's display of clear insanity.

"Well we know she's still in there. So whatever has her doesn't have complete control." He mused.

"And we know that, how?" Natsu asked, not grasping the obvious yet again.

"She wasn't talking to us, which means she was talking to something inside her head." Gray stated, confirmed by everyone's nods. Just as the thought came clear into their heads, a screech came from the Infirmary.

"NO! You mustn't Lucy!" She screamed, rocking back and forth in her chair, tipping it off balance. As she descended to the floor her head slammed against a bench, resulting in an unconscious Lucy laying side ways tied to a chair. As Cronus observed her, he noticed her full breasts about to pop out of her shirt, and much against the wishes of the desire rising in the pit of his belly, he went over to the chair and replaced it in an upright position. Much to the disappointment of Laxus and Gray, and maybe a little bit Gajeel and Natsu, but they'd never admit it.

"Right!" The master declared, clapping his hands together. "Clearly she's unpredictable, so we're going to set a guard on her so we can have an alert whenever she loses control again. My guess is when she wakes again, she'll be the normal Lucy. Do we have an volunteers?" He looked around expectantly. Laxus, Gajeel and Gray stuck their hands in the air as soon as 'volunteers' was mentioned. Understanding their pervy thoughts, Makarov completely overlooked them, glancing back to where Cronus crouched next to Lucy, cleaning the open cut on the side of her temple. _Perfect. _He thought to himself. _Mirajane will be so proud of me_, he smirked.

"Cronus!" He grunted at the sound of his name. "You're going to be our alert system, and will be Lucy's watchman till we are able to determine the cause for this change."

"You ever think that maybe she just deserves a little justice...?" He muttered, still swabbing the wound.

"Not this Lucy's kind of justice." He replied, though a small angry tick appeared below his eye as Cronus gave no indication that he had been paying any attention at all. _Watchman,huh? _Cronus thought to himself. _Sure, let's see where this goes_.

Lucy came to a few hours later with a killer headache, warmly tucked into her bed.

"Ugh..." she groaned, raising a hand to her aching temple.

"You're awake, huh? Took you long enough. Are you you or the other you?" Cronus asked, peeking over the top of her couch.

"That made no sense." She muttered.

"Are you the nice you or the mean you?" Getting up, and walking around to the back of the couch and leaning against it.

"Depends on whether you're going to get me some water or not." Cronus grinned at that and rose to walk to the kitchen. Returning with a large glass of water, grunting in thanks Lucy took it and drank, not noticing as a small droplet escaped from her thirsty mouth and slowly and sultrily made it's way down her chin, rolled over her neck and slanted into the valley of her breasts, Cronus watched every step of the journey, and his mouth dried as he witnessed it reach its final destination.

"What?" Lucy asked feeling across her chest to see if she'd dripped any. _You won't find it... _he thought, _though I could help... _Cronus chuckled to himself, _nah! I value my life. _

"Nothing. Just lost in thought." Lucy, seeming to accept that, shrugged as she climbed out of bed and heading to the bathroom. Cronus stayed in his position and listened for the shower to be turned on before moving. Creeping silently to the bathroom, he pressed his ear against the door and listened to Lucy's sigh on contentment as she stepped under the spray. _Ok! _Heading to the kitchen Cronus placed a frying pan on the element, cracked some eggs into a bowl, added some cream and seasonings and poured it into the pan. _If I'm gonna get any information out of that girl, I'll need to put her in a good mood. _

Turning off the water, Lucy stepped out of the shower and into the steam-filled bathroom. Her wet hair she pulled back into a braid that hung over her shoulder, the tips of the strands reaching the crest of her breasts, and she wrapped a towel around herself after drying off. Taking a deep breath, while trying to summon the warmth towards her as she slid open the door and stepped out into the bedroom/ dining room/ lounge room. _Is that... food?_ She thought, taking a whiff of what smelt distinctly like egg and seasoning. Walking over to her dresser, she pulled out her draws, searching for something suitable to wear, finally deciding on a plain blue t-shirt with a black mini skirt. After changing, she stepped into the kitchen to find Cronus standing in front of her stove, the long sleeves of his black shirt were rolled up to his elbows, but his entire demeanour looked relaxed. As if he belonged there. And she had to admit, she didn't mind the thought. As her eyes scanned his back, she noticed how muscular his shoulders were, restraining herself from walking over and running her hands across and down his back, her eyes continued their surveillance halting at his tight, taught butt before continuing downwards. _Not bad... _she thought with a smirk.

"You know, it's rude to stare." Cronus said, not turning from the stove. Flustered about being caught Lucy stuttered "Wha- I wasn't-!" clearing her throat "What're cooking?"

"Omelette."

"Clearly, what's in it?"

"Pepper, salt, tomatoes, and bacon." Lucy drooled at the thought of eating something that sounded so delicious.

"Mmmmm!" She moaned, it was music to his ears but he'd always hoped that it would be from something else. "I love tomatoes. Especially when they're whole and warm and pop in your mouth when you bite into them. The juices are so yummy when they're released in your mouth." (A/N: That's actually my opinion of tomatoes. I didn't understand how sexual that sounded till I wrote it down...)

_Oh my god! I know she didn't mean it like that,but... _he could feel himself getting hard just at the thought of himself releasing in her mouth. _But what if she did? _

Looking at him side long, Lucy noticed as he tensed up after what she'd said. And she hadn't meant it to sound like that, but then again, she wasn't exactly hating the effect.

"Something wrong?" Lucy asked, snapping Cronus out of his thoughts, he returned to his cooking.

"Nope. Just thinking."

"I'm sure." She said, tipping her head back, allowing a full view of her neck as she flicked her hair behind her shoulders, and once again his thoughts wandered. _Oh man! How I'd love to kiss that slender neck, hear her moan in pleasure as I pounded her into that ridiculously soft mattress. _

"You're burning the food." She commented. Springing into action his lifted the pan off the element and slide the slightly black tinted omelette into a plate. Lucy sat down at the small table as he placed it in front of her. "My hero." She smiled, and dug in.

"So.."

"Just ask." Lucy said through her food.

"What?"

"Just ask."

"Ask what?"

"Whatever you've been thinking about since you met me."

"Umm... ok. What happened to you?"

"When?"

"When you got whatever that thing is inside your head."

"That's a long and hard one. You sure you wanna hear it?"

"You're a writer, you'll make it interesting for me."

"Glad to hear it. It was my last mission with Team Natsu. And it wasn't pretty. We were coming to take down a dark guild, which would usually be simple enough, but there was this guy, Dyst- Dyxt or something. He wasn't like the others. He had some power I've never seen before, I don't even know what it was, it could've been forcefields he threw at us, or wind. But whatever it was it stopped us from moving all together. He took a liking to me and kept me conscious while he tortured the others. Started with Gray, then Erza, then Happy, then Natsu. He liked listening to us scream, to me scream. When they were all unconscious he made me look at them, told me it was my fault they were hurt, that I was weak." The scenes flashed in her view as Lucy retold the story, "he took something out of his pocket and held it at the back of my neck, something black and wiggling, and he dropped it there. I could feel it, slimy and smooth, wriggling across my skin. There was a blinding pain as it used its teeth of tear away at my skin and wriggle inside the hole it'd made. Eventually the hole healed, but I could feel it, under my skin, slithering around. The last thing he said to me was 'till we meet again, my dearest tainted angel.'"

Cronus was silent. He'd been right, she sure could tell a story well. But it hadn't been what he'd expected, not the beating she'd witnessed, not the creepy asshole who had called her his 'tainted angel.' Cronus stared at Lucy as Lucy stared at the floor.

"Don't worry, Luce. We'll get it out."

"I don't want it out." She muttered.


	7. Chapter 7:

Chapter 8:

"What?" Cronus asked, slightly flabbergasted.

"I don't want it out. All my life I've been 'poor Lucy' and someone to be protected. Well, with this, I'm not that person anymore." Standing she walked to the door of the kitchen.

"They only do that 'cause they love you." He followed Lucy to the door.

"Maybe I don't want to be loved gently. Maybe from my boyfriends I want 'up-against-the wall' passion."

"Up-against-the-wall passion, huh?" Cronus thought, stroking his chin. "I can do that."

"What?" She asked, turning to Cronus and catching the look of determination on his face right before he crushed his mouth against hers. He heard her muffled cry against his mouth but didn't let up. _This is what you wanted, right? _He kept his eyes open and watched as hers fluttered shut as she folded to the rhythm and gave back, kiss for kiss. Her arms came up and circled him, pulling him in closer as he pressed her up against the door frame.

When his mouth left hers and wandered down her throat she gasped at the feeling of his teeth scraping her delicate skin and it had her moaning. She wanted to touch him, more than anything.

He was losing himself in her. No, he was already lost. Her smell, so fragile yet so intoxicating. Her skin, so smooth and yet like fire against his own. Everywhere he touched her he could feel her delicate shivers and as much as he convinced himself he was only doing it to scare her there was a small niggling in the back of his mind that told him that more than anything, he had wanted this too.

Lucy slipped her hand under the bottom of his shirt, brushing her fingers lightly against the sculpted muscles she'd yearned to touch for so long. Cronus hissed in a breath as her fingers wandered up his stomach and pulled his shirt up over his head. He accommodated her, lifting his arms and keeping eye contact with her as it came off. His mouth came bruising back to hers as he reached to her own shirt and pulled it up, only parting for a breath as it came off over her head.

She couldn't get enough of him, his rough skin against her smooth had her groaning. The way he gasped as she dug in her fingers to his back and pulled him in closer had her pulling harder. He was perfect in every way, he was strong yet gentle, passionate but he seemed to be holding something back and it excited her. She wanted all of him. Pulling back from his mouth she pressed light kisses down his neck to his chest, stopping to lick the pert nipple. A growl mixed with a moan rumbled through his chest and she could feel it through her tongue as she lavished the nipple with attention, then moved onto the other.

There was nothing shy or weak about this girl. She owned him and Cronus couldn't have cared less, he was in heaven. Wrapping his hand in her hair he yanked her roughly back up to his mouth. Falling, they hit the floor roughly, fighting to free themselves, and each other, of the civilized barrier of clothing. Lucy arched her back as Cronus filled his hands with her full breasts and admired them, running rough thumbs over the taunt nubs of her nipples. Leaning down he did what he had been fantasizing about for so long, he filled his mouth with them. Arching further Lucy pushed herself further into the wet warmth of his mouth.

Moving back up her body he brought his mouth back to hers, running his hands roughly along her willow slim body, but not taking the time to memorize the luscious curves. He knew she wasn't new to sex, so he reached down to her entrance, she was wet, so wet, and perfect. Guiding his straining member to her entrance he pressed in slowly, slowly, then entered the rest of the way with one sharp thrust. Lights exploded behind Lucy's eyes as time, everything stopped. They stared into each others eyes, panting. Cronus pulled out to her entrance again and she clenched, not wanting to let go just yet, but he came thrusting back, a groan escaped her lips as his hips snapped forcefully again and again. Without even noticing it Lucy's hips were rising to meet his thrusts as she desperately panted his name.

"Cronus..."

The heat built and built as the pace picked up. Her nails dug in and scraped down his back as he drove deeper and deeper, more and more forcefully. She could feel it coming, her climax. Their panting became frantic as Cronus pounded into her a few more beats before it came shuddering through them. Lucy's muscles tensed then went slack as her orgasm stormed through her then subsided and Cronus collapsed, also shuddering, next to her.

Staring at the ceiling as they waited for their breathing and heart beats to slow, Lucy rolled over and curled herself into the crook of Cronus' shoulder. He felt her breath spread over his chest and his heart tightened and how right this felt. Closing his eyes he soaked in the rightness of this moment, wishing it would never end.

"Hey, Luce?" Cronus breathed. "I think - I think I love you."


	8. Chapter 8:

Chapter 9:

**A/N: Somewhere along the way I ran out of things to name my chapters, so just call it whatever you feel like. **

**I really love it when you guys leave me messages as to how to improve, however not all of them will be fulfilled. So try and make reasonable requests :) much appreciated.**

**Also I know that I've been laying off on the creepy side of my Lucy, so I'll be fixing that too. If you'd prefer that I make the story NaLu than Cronus and Lucy (CroLu?) then feel free to request :) **

**B**

**Here we go...**

The harsh light of morning pierced through Lucy's eye lids as she slowly came to consciousness. It was warm in her bed, and she automatically thought of Natsu, but he hadn't been in her bed for a long time. A depression filled her till she felt the warmth shift at her side and an arm snake around her waist. Her head snapped to take in the blonde hair of Cronus and his sleeping face. _Awww! He looks so CUTE!_ She smiled

"It's rude to stare," he grumbled as he buried his face in her pillow.

"Sorry, you're just so adorable when you sleep."

"As opposed to when I'm awake." He replied, she didn't even flinch just smiled wider her warm smile that would light up the darkest room.

"Exactly! When you're awake you're gorgeous rather than adorable." His eye peeked out from it's burrow in her pillow.

"Flattery will get you everywhere." He grinned as he pounced on her, rolling her onto her back and pinning her under his body. Giggling she wound her arms around his neck and looked up at him seductively.

Back at Fairy Tail Laxus and Gajeel were still updating the guild on what had happened with Lucy, it was clear they were still a bit scarred. Natsu sat in a corner being uncharacteristically silent and musing.

"Hey Natsu!" Happy floated over "Let's go fishing!"

"Not today, Happy. I'm not in the mood." Happy stopped mid-flight, _Natsu? Not in the mood? Since when does Natsu have a mood other than fight and happy?_ _Although fight and happy are pretty much one and the same to Natsu. _

"What's wrong, Natsu?" Erza walked over.

"I'm just thinking about Lucy... Was it us that made her like that?"

"No. It was the parasite." Erza stated, though she understood why he would think that. Lucy hadn't been the same since they'd told her to go solo.

Across the guild Laxus and Gajeel had stopped talking and were listening intently on what was being said and were slightly outraged at the audacity of Erza and how she could so easily pass off the blame onto a parasite. Turning to each other, they shared a look and stood, and exiting the guild headed towards Lucy's apartment.

Lucy stood in the shower letting the warm water rush over her body and letting the relaxation of Cronus being just outside and standing there, letting her muscles relax as she washed herself.

Cronus had much the same feeling as he stood in front of the stove and watched the omelette cook. He'd thought that after they'd had sex that the attraction would be gone, but to find her there when he woke, smiling down at him and the sun making her hair shine like she was some kind of angel was the greatest way to wake up. It felt great just to be with her, in her home.

A loud crash came from the bathroom, panic swelled in his heart as he dropped the egg-slide and raced to assist. Slamming open the bathroom door he quickly scanned the room, taking in the shower curtain that lay on the floor and the naked Lucy standing just to the left of it.

"Luce? Are you ok?" He asked, dipping his head to look under the bangs that covered her eyes. "Luce?"

"Lucy? We are not Lucy, not now." She muttered in a voice that seemed like there was more than one person talking at once.

"We?"

Lucy's head snapped up and she stared at Cronus. A smile came over her face that was somewhere between a grin, a sneer and a snarl.

"Gone again. Just us left. We must thank you though, you made us very happy." She strode past him into the bedroom and began putting her clothes on while simultaneously tossing some into a bag she had laid out on the bed.

"What are you doing?" Cronus asked, inching bit by bit closer to the doorway.

"We must not be here. You cannot tear us apart." It said, that voice sent shivers down Cronus' spine. Lucy had the deep tenor voice of a man, but simultaneously the soft soprano of a woman. It was beautiful but scary at the same time and confused Cronus beyond belief. Lucy's voice was in there, for sure. But it was mixed with others that didn't belong to her.

"Who is us?" He asked, _this is my chance! I can get information from it now and help the master remove it. _

"We are they who protect Lucy. You would be dead by now if you did not love her as much as we do. We do not believe you could harm her."

"How many of you are there?"

"There are many of us." Lucy's voice pitched and focused on the feminine octave, then sunk to the lower, male voice when saying "We are forever."

_So there are two of you... interesting. So can they multiply? If so, how long would it take for them to take full control of her body?_

"What do you want with Lucy?"

"We only wish to protect her. She has suffered much. We can feel her pain, it hurts us."

"Her pain?"

"And her rage, for there is much."

"She still hates Natsu?"

"Of course. Once love is lost it will never return."

"I don't believe that."

"You believe what you want, we do not care. You are but a meat sack to us."

"Gee, thanks."

"We must leave." Lucy's body took a step to the door, then another. Cronus stepped in front and did the only thing he could think of.

He hugged her.

"Please. Please don't take Lucy from me." Lucy's body went from rigid to lax right before she pushed him away.

"We apologise, Cronus. But this must be done. They must pay for their betrayal." And with that she was gone, closing the door almost silently behind her.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 10

For All Eternity

Cronus walked slowly to the guild, thinking over how Lucy had just been acting. _She said we, not me. Are there more than one?_ His brows were furrowed in concentration as he walked, so engrossed in his thoughts that he barely noticed when Gajeel and Laxus stopped in front of him.

"Oi!" Gajeel said, waving a hand in front of Cronus' face. "What you doin' out here new guy? Ain't you s'posed to be watching Bunny?"

"You mean Luce? She left." He said blankly.

"Left." Laxus said, more of a statement than a question. _Is this guy an idiot? He just let the psychotic serial killer go?_

"Yep. Gone." Cronus said again.

"And you didn't stop her?"

"Of course I tried, but believe it or not I kind of like living." Walking around the two bulking masses, Cronus continued his beeline to the Fairy Tail guild.

"Did you at least ask where she went?"

"No need."

"Why's that?" Gajeel asked, seriously doubting anything the guy had to say.

"Because I put a tracker on her." Not even a break in his stride, not even a blink of an eye.

_He did what?! Maybe he's not as stupid as I thought..._

Lucy stood at the edge of the forest, sniffing the air for signs of the life form she was looking for. _Nothing. _Swiftly and silently she sprinted to the small cabin that belonged to her old friend the fire dragon-slayer, sniffing the air and accessing the surroundings she noted that he wasn't there. Not even inside the house. Sitting outside the door she pulled her knees to her chest and bowed her head into the dark cavern between her body and her legs, her hair swooping down to make curtains to keep out the light. _Guess I'll just wait. _

Natsu had been feeling wrong since he had woken up. Something just didn't seem right and he couldn't shake the feeling like something was about to happen. His stressed aura had been bothering both Erza and Gray, who seemed a bit too calm considering the circumstances, so they had sent him home, and now that he was walking through the woods, the path he'd worn down himself, and then Lucy. She'd walked this path so many times it had almost started to smell like her. She would come and – _wait... what's that? _Raising his nose to the sky he sniffed, smelling the oh so familiar and sweet scent of his best friend. _Lucy?_ Excitement overcame his sense of wariness as he rushed to his house to find the gorgeous blonde sitting on his front porch.

"Lucy?" A smile spread across his face as her head shot up from it's bowing position and her eyes met his.

"Natsu. We've been waiting." She smiled sadly and her eyes held so much pain. _How had I not noticed that pain before? Had it always been there?_ It looked like it had. The pain that Natsu saw in Lucy's eyes looked old, and as much a part of her as her brightest smile that she would show only him. Where was that smile now? Would it come back for him, the smile that made all the darknesses go away?

Lucy stood and stretched. Natsu watched as she held out her arms above her head, linking her fingers and pushing her palms to the sky.

"Lucy wanted us to tell you something before we do what we have to."

"We?" Natsu's brow furrowed, but the sad smile never left Lucy's face.

"She says 'do you remember our last mission together?'"

Natsu nodded. "Of course. It's kind of a hard one to forget."

"And then do you remember what you said to me after we got home?" He shook his head.

"You said 'Lucy, the team and I don't think you should be in Team Natsu any more. We'll be taking Lisanna out with us now. It'll be better that way.' Do you remember?"

Natsu shook his head again, his face falling from it's previous look of confusion to a look of sadness that couldn't even hold a candle to the sadness in Lucy's heart.

"Do you remember how I smiled?" Another shake.

"Do you remember how I said 'Ok, Natsu! Whatever you think would be better for the team.'? DO YOU?!"

Shake. Shake.

Rage filled her voice as she leaned forward with vengeful intent.

"Because I remember! I remember the gut wrenching pain that came with every fake smile and laugh and cheery word that I FORCED from my poor, tired soul! I remember the way I would cry myself to sleep every night because I missed you too damn much! WE remember! WE REMEMBER EVERYTHING!" Her scream mixed with tears and anger and reverberated around the small clearing.

She lunged forward, a hand shot behind her back to grab a knife and the other to her waist to grasp her whip handle and send it in the direction of Natsu's face. The tip connected with a sickening _CRACK _and Natsu went flying backwards, his head whipping to the side from the force of the impact. He staggered up, hand on his injured cheek, blooding pouring through his fingers.

Lucy laughed, "head wounds always bleed the most. But don't worry. I won't aim only for your head."

"Lucy, what's wrong?"

"What's wrong? WHAT'S WRONG? What's wrong is that you can't remember the day you crushed me! What's wrong is that you forgot about me the second that lie came out of my mouth!"

"Lie?"

"Yes, Natsu, you oblivious little fuck. A lie. What in this fucking universe made you think it was ok to just kick someone off of your team? Someone who was injured and hurting more than any of you! You had NO IDEA what I saw! And you kicked me out. UNFORGIVABLE!"

By the time Cronus got to Natsu's house with the master Lucy was sitting on Natsu's chest with her knife raised above her head and her face twisted in ugly rage.

"Luce?" He asked, her hand stopped it's plummeting motion towards Natsu's face.

"Cronus. Be a dear and go away so I can finish the traitor. Oh, and take the master with you, I have no business with him."

"But I have business with you, Lucy." Master interjected.

"Then it will have to wait until later. I'm currently occupied." Natsu's eyes had been squeezed shut but now they opened to look up at Lucy's calm face in desperation. He hadn't wanted to fight, but the burns on Lucy's arms said that he had fought anyway.

Cronus looked at Lucy, considering what to do next when he noticed, _I? She's using first person. And not 'we.' It's really Lucy!_

"Luce? Is it really you?"

"Of course. I would never have them kill Natsu for me. That will be my pleasure and mine alone. I will be the one who feels his bones crush beneath my fingers and to hear him scream in pain." She groaned as if in ecstasy, "music to my ears."

"Luce, you need to think about this logically." He said, "If you kill him you can't make him suffer for very long, can you?" Natsu's and the master's eyes widened. _The fuck are you doing?!_

"I suppose you have a point... an eternity or torture or 50 minutes? Your choice Natsu."

Before Natsu could make his usual stupid reply master chirps in "He chooses eternity of torture." _Thank Mavis, he understands, _Cronus thought.

Natsu's voice went squeaky with shock, "What!"

Master sent a stern look in Natsu's direction, "Trust me, boy."

"Very well. The votes have been counted. An eternity of torture it is. And I can live for a very long time with these things inside me." She smirked as she leaned down so she was nose to nose with Natsu, looking him dead in the eyes. Then she smashed her lips against his in a harsh and forceful kiss, that Natsu didn't find completely displeasing. She released Natsu's face from the death grip between her hands she had used to keep his head still during the kiss and stood up. Her feet framed the sides of his head, lifting one she stomped down onto his face with all the hatred that had built up in her since her leaving Team Natsu.

"Till next time, baby dragon. I can't wait to play some more." She promised as she left the half-dead body of the bloody and beaten Natsu in the centre of the clearing. Leaving with Cronus following in her wake her cackle echoed throughout the forest.


End file.
